Full Notification

Crews from the City of Kansas City, Mo.’s Public Works, Water and Parks and Recreation departments will mobilize this weekend in preparation for an early spring storm that could deliver up to eight inches of snow across the metro.

Arterial drivers will begin driving their routes at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, March 23 and will work nonstop through Monday morning. Residential crews will begin their routes at 3 p.m. on Saturday, March 23 and will work until nightfall. The residential drivers will return to their routes at 6 a.m. on Sunday, March 24, working until 6 p.m.

These schedules will be extended as warranted.

According to the National Weather Service, a winter storm will impact the area beginning Saturday night and continuing through Sunday. The storm has the potential to bring significant snow accumulations through the Kansas City metropolitan area.

The City has approximately 6,400 lane miles of pavement in its street system. In order to keep traffic moving throughout the City during a winter weather event, the snow plan prioritizes plowing into two types of snow routes: primary/arterial routes and residential routes.

On primary and arterial routes, the City's Public Works, Parks and Recreation and Water Services departments collaborate on removing snow and ice from approximately 2,400 lane-miles of pavement and apply salt as needed. On primary and arterial streets, crews plow curb-to-curb and work around the clock.

On residential snow routes, City crews using smaller trucks work 12-hour shifts during daytime hours to provide a passable lane by plowing and applying salt on intersections, hills and curves. As possible, crews will widen the passable lane, which may still have some snow pack due to low pavement temperatures.

Please note, the Missouri Department of Transportation plows highways. Many streets in Kansas City are actually part of the highway system and plowing for them is MoDOT's responsibility. A few of these streets include: Bannister Road, Noland Road, Vivion Road, Antioch Road and part of Independence Avenue. The telephone number for MoDOT is 816-622-6500.

When snow depths exceed a couple of inches, residents are advised that parking cars off-street during snow plow operations greatly enhances the ability of snow plows to remove snow, especially in cul-de-sacs and dead end streets. Residents parking on signed Emergency Snow Routes should be prepared to find alternate parking locations to avoid vehicles being ticketed or towed.

Whenever it snows, residents wanting to report slick spots or missed streets to the City’s 311 Call Center are advised that while crews are running assigned snow routes, it is assumed that all streets are slick. Only after snow has stopped falling and all snow routes have been run does the City’s 311 Call Center accept requests for slick spots and missed streets.

For winter 2012-2013, the City has expanded its GPS capability to capture activity for all City snow plows throughout the City. Please visit www.kcmo.org/snow to view the GPS snow plow map and other snow-related updates.